what strange things have your chicks ate???

[mtngrl812]

I noticed my chicks started pulling up the newspaper on the bottom of the brooder then running around with it while the other girls chased after for a bite. I think they were really eating it!

So now what? Will they digest the paper? I think I seen one of them with an old cigarette butt in her mouth running around in the coop-run but I could not catch her before she ate it!!! It could have been a seed pod from the hay in the run, I was very careful to get all the trash cleaned up in the run before putting them in there, but it looked like an old cigarette!!!!

Certainly it wasn't .... they wouldn't eat that! They would have had to have scratched it up from some place I didn't see......Is my little chick gonna die from this? Should I feed her something special to help digest the newspaper and who knows what else???

 

[Anianna]

If you think they are really eating it, give them some chick grit so they can digest it ok, though I think what you are describing is just a game they play. Mine would pick up some bedding and "announce" they had a treat and the frenzy would start. Eventually, the bird with the bedding would just drop it and walk away and the others would check it out and see they got snookered. Chicks are freakin' hilarious.

 

[catfish]

Chickens are omnivores.
They will eat nearly anything that won't eat them first.

 

[GiddyMoon]

It's all just fiber and will get passed thru..unless we are talking about serious chunks causing a blockage..and I wouldn't concern yourself until you actually see someone sick then go from there.

 

[LaurasLorps]

We keep our yard clean, but my chicks seems to find every piece of trash, no matter how small. For example, they haven't warmed up to worms yet, but I have twice pulled a half-swallowed rubber band from a chick's mouth!

The grossest thing, however, happened last week. I was sitting outside with the chicks, letting them free range a bit when I saw AnnaBeth, my chick ring leader running towards me chirping proudly, with a DEAD BABY BIRD dangling from her mouth!!! I think it must have fallen from one of the trees in our yard and she found it and picked it up. For the next five minutes, I chased AnnaBeth (who happens to be a world-class sprinter) around our yard, all the while trying not to step on the other 4 chicks who had joined the chase. I finally caught AnnaBeth and got her to drop the bird, then tried to block out the other chicks while I used some sticks to dispose of the little body. Gross, gross, gross!

 

[tclegg]

Quote:
I'm sorry--I know it's gross--but as I was reading your story I had to laugh...I was picturing you running with a stick yelling AnnaBeth--AnnaBeth drop that BIRD!!! while all your other birds are chasing you to see what all the stink was about!!! LOL

Sorry could'nt help myself.. R "girls" find someway to amuse us.... to their amusement...LOL

 

[mtngrl812]

Quote:
I'm sorry--I know it's gross--but as I was reading your story I had to laugh...I was picturing you running with a stick yelling AnnaBeth--AnnaBeth drop that BIRD!!! while all your other birds are chasing you to see what all the stink was about!!! LOL

Sorry could'nt help myself.. R "girls" find someway to amuse us.... to their amusement...LOL

 

[Chick Charm]

Rubber bands.

 

[Momagain1]

styrofoam peanuts..ugh..

 

[lizage]

One of my chicken books specifically calls out cigarette butts...to make sure they don't get them, that is. I hadn't really thought about it and now I've been all picky and paranoid about every little scrap!